A networked computer environment typically includes a server computer system that provides client computer systems with access to information and services. The server and client computer systems are usually connected via a local area or a wide area private Intranet system, or via the public Internet. Shared files are typically stored in an HTML file format, which has become an internationally accepted format for sharing data in a networked computer environment. A unique uniform resource locator (URL) may be associated with each HTML file, enabling client computer systems to request a specific HTML file from a server computer system.
Generally, an HTML file includes a hierarchical set of markup elements. Most markup elements include a start tag, followed by content, followed by an end tag. The content is typically a combination of text and nested markup elements. Tags, which are enclosed in angle brackets (‘<’ and ‘>’), indicate the file structure and the format of the file data. There are tags for markup elements such as titles and headers, for text attributes such as bold and italic, for lists, for paragraph boundaries, for links to other documents or other parts of the same document, for graphic images, for non-displayed comments, and for many other features. Further details regarding HTML may be found in reference books such as, “HTML For Dummies,” by Ed Tittel and Steve James (1996).
An application program module used for viewing HTML files is commonly referred to as a browser. The primary function of a browser is to find, retrieve, and display HTML files and other files. A browser is generally not intended for word processing or data creation and manipulation. However, a browser may be used to display documents or data that are generated by other application program modules, once such documents or data are converted into an HTML or HTML-compatible format.
While application programs exist for directly creating and manipulating HTML data, users often prefer to create and manipulate data using more familiar applications programs, such as word processors, electronic spreadsheets and the like. An electronic spreadsheet, word processor, or other similar application program typically operates on “native data” stored in native data files having a format that is native to the particular application program. Many such application programs provide the user with the option to convert native data into HTML data and to publish the HTML data into an HTML file. However, data persistence is generally problematic when a user works with multiple files. In order to maintain consistency, the user must modify the HTML data in the HTML file upon every subsequent modification of the corresponding native data within the native data file.
The EXCEL 2000™ electronic spreadsheet application program, which is distributed by Microsoft Corporation or Redmond, Wash., includes functionality for publishing native data from a spreadsheet file into an HTML file, without requiring a separate HTML editor to define any HTML tags. During the publication process, EXCEL 2000 inserts a unique identifier into the destination HTML file in order to identify the published data and mark its location in the HTML file. EXCEL 2000 further stores the unique identifier in a data structure that is associated with the native spreadsheet file. Thus, by generating a series of user interface commands, the user is able to instruct EXCEL 2000 to locate the previously published data in the HTML file, by way of the unique identifier, and to update or “republish” the data in order to reflect changes made to the native data in the spreadsheet file.
As mentioned with respect to EXCEL 2000, the existing prior art application programs that address issue of publishing data into an HTML document require the user to generate a series of user interface commands in order to republish the data. If the user does not generate the proper user interface commands, or if the user does not remember to invoke the republication process after the native data is modified, the originally published data will be inconsistent with the modified native data. As is well known in the art, serious consequences may result from the sharing of inconsistent or outdated data in a networked computer environment. Therefore, there is a need for automatic republication of data into an HTML file or another published file, without the need for user interaction, in response to modification of corresponding native data.